EIB to participate in Hellenic Investment Fund project

Greece has a already signed a memorandum of understanding with the German bank KfW to participate in the Fund, while other organizations such as the Onassis Foundation have pledged to participate in the project. “We asked for EIB’s support and I believe we will get it very soon. We recommended to sign

a memorandum of understanding, as with KfW, and it was accepted. This is positive news for Greece, for liquidity and for small- and medium-sized enterprises,” Hatzidakis said.

EIB’s president said negotiations were currently under way with the Greek government to sign a memorandum of understanding, although he stressed it was too early to determine EIB’s participation in the project. He revealed, however, that other agencies, including organizations from France, have expressed interest in participating in teh Fund, which he said would be a driving force for Greece’s real economy. The Hellenic Investment Fund will fund and offer guarantess for funding of small- and medium-sized enterprises and infrastructure projects.

Hoyer said EIB’s funding program to Greece will total 1.5 billion euros this year, from 550 million euros in 2012 and urged banks to accelerate trade finance operations, a funding tool introduced by EIB for the first time in Greece and aimed at facilitating import and export trade. “I know several sucessful Greek enterprises that need this. We are the bridge between these enterprises and international and Greek banks,” he noted.

“We emphasize on SMEs because they will create new job positions,” Hoyer said.

Hatzidakis said that from the 1,44 billion euros of funds available for Greek SMEs through EIB’s funding tools, a total of 635 million euros could have been disbursed by the end of the year and the remaining 800 million euros would be disbursed in 2014.

Hoyer said that works on national road projects have begun or were about to begin, which was a great success for Greece, while Hatzidakis noted that without the contribution of EIB restarting of these projects would be impossible and underlined that EIB invested in Greece and had confidence on the government’s policy.

Source: AMNA